Lady{40 s handbag, pouch or purse

ABSTRACT

An accessory for personal use such as a French purse, a lady&#39;&#39;s handbag, wallet, etc., has a rigid frame formed of two U-shaped halves hinged together. The base of each half is channeled with the open side of the channels facing inwardly. Springy strips with cover material secured thereto are forcibly inserted into the channel of each base in which the strips and thus the cover material are retained by engagement of the strip ends with shoulders on the branches or legs of the frame halves.

United States Patent Reitzel LADY'S HANDBAG, POUCH OR PURSE Georg Reitzel, Altenmittlau Kreis Gelnhausen, Germany Assignees: Drescher &, Kiefer, Altenmittlau Gelnhausen, Germany; Randolph- Rand Corporation, New York, N.Y.

Filed: Dec. 4, 1970 Appl. No.: 95,292

Inventor:

Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 12, 1969 Austria .1 ..A 11576/69 US. Cl. ..1s0/29 Int. Cl ..A45c 13/04 Field of Search ..l50/29, 28 A; 190/49, 50, 54

3,692,078 Sept. 19, 1972 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,952,132 3/1934 Hiering ..l50/29 Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Leclair Assistant Examiner-Stephen P. Garbe Attorney-Plane, Baxley & Spiecens 5 7] ABSTRACT An accessory for personal use such as a French purse, a ladys handbag, wallet, etc., has a rigid frame formed of two U-shaped halves hinged together. The base of each half is channeled with the open side of the channels facing inwardly. Springy strips with cover material secured thereto are forcibly inserted into the channel of each base in which the strips and thus the cover material are retained by engagement of the strip ends with shoulders on the branches or legs of the frame halves.

5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTED 19 I972 3,692,078

sum 1 or 2 /nren/ar= (50m; Ear-z 4 Hr-MRIVEF PATENTEDSEP 19 I972 3v. 6 92 O78 Inventor.- 550 Rs 195/ 7-2 5.4

$ m; wi/ im f TTUIQ/VIKS LADY'S HANDBAG, POUCH R PURSE The invention relates to accessories for personal use such as French purses, ladies handbags, wallets, etc., and more particularly, to an accessory of the kind in which the branches or legs of two substantially U- shaped frame halves are hinged together in side-by-side relationship and the cover material of the French purse, etc., is secured to the downwardly open base of each frame half.

BACKGROUND There are already known ladies handbags, French purses, wallets, etc., of the general kind above referred to in which the cover material is secured to the base of each frame half by means of a channeled strip straddling the base of the respective frame half from above and clamped thereto.

Such an arrangement simplifies the assembly of the accessory to some extent, and thus reduces the manufacturing costs thereof, but it is still necessary to secure the cover material to the frame of a French purse or other accessory of the kind above referred to before the cover material can be clamped between the bases of the frame halves and the channeled clamping strips.

' THE INVENTION It is a broad object of the invention to provide a SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aforepointed out objects, features and advantages, and other objects, features and advantages which will be pointed out hereinafter are obtained by securing each edge of the cover material which is to be attached to the base of the frame of the 'handbag or other accessory, to an elastic or springy strip which is then inserted into the channeled base of the frame halves and yieldably attached at its ends to the branches or legs of the frame halves.

The invention also provides that the ends of each springy strip is formed with a hook or nose and that the facing sides of the branches or legs of the frame halves include set-off portions or shoulders in which the noses or hooks at the ends of the springy strips are received.

According to still another aspect of the invention, the set-off portions or shoulders on the inside of the branches or legs of the frame halves are disposed within the outline of the channeled base of the frame halves. These bases have preferably an R-shaped cross-section and are so disposed that the flat sides of the bases face each other, that is, that the flat sides are located on the inside of the frame halves.

The springy strips can either be secured to the outer cover material of the handbag or other accessory, or to lining for the cover material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the accompanying drawing a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a French purse according to the invention, shown in closed position;

'FIG. 2 is perspective view similar to FIG. 1 except that the French purse is shown in open position and that the cover material of the purse is not yet fully secured thereto;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic elevational view showing attachment of a springy mounting or clamping strip to one frame half, the strip being partly inserted into the frame half;

FIG. 3a is a section taken on line 3a-3a of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic elevational view similar to FIG. 3, but showing a further advanced stage of the insertion of the springy strip;

FIG. 4a is a section taken on line 4a-4a of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic elevational view similar to FIGS. 3 and 4, but showing the springy strip fully inserted into the frame half; and

FIG. 5a is a section taken on lines 5a5a of FIG. 5.

Referring now to the figures more in detail, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, these figures exemplify a French purse. The purse comprises a rigid frame formed by two frame halves l5 and 16, each of the frame halves consisting of a U-shaped member with branches or legs 1 and 2 and a base 3. The base is channeled, as it is clearly shown in the figures, the open side of the channeled bases facing downwardly as shown in the figures. The legs are integral with the base or fixedly secured thereto, for instance by soldering, and extend into the channel for a purpose which will become apparent from the subsequent description. The free ends of legs 1 and 2 of the two frame halves are hinged to each other at 17 in a conventional fashion.

The cover material 4 such as fabric, leather or leatherette, is secured to base 3, as will be more fully described hereinafter, and of course also to legs 1 and 2, either directly or by means of lining material 7.

Each edge of the cover material 4 to be secured to one of the bases 3 is secured to an elongate flexible strip 6 such as a strip made of springy steel. According to FIG. 2 strip 6 is attached to the lining material 7 so that only the ends of the strip are exposed.

Turning now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, (the cover material and the lining are omitted in these figures for purpose of clarification), these figures show that the ends of each strip 6 terminate in hook or nose portions 10 and 11. These hooks or noses are arranged to coact with shoulders or set-off portions 8 and 9 formed on legs I and 2.

Theexemplified purse is assembled as follows:

Each springy strip 6 with lining or cover materiaI, already attached thereto is inserted from below and at a slant (see FIG. 3) into the channel of the respective base 3 so that one of the noses such as nose l0 rests upon shoulder 8.

The other nose 11 is thereupon forced into engagement with the other shoulder 9 by utilizing the springiness of strip 6, that is, the strip is slightly and temporari ly deformed while nose 11 is forced into engagement with shoulder 9. FIG. 4 shows strip 6 just before its nose 11 reaches engagement with shoulder 9, and FIG. 5 shows both noses resting upon the shoulders, thereby securing strips 6 in position within the channel of bases 3.

To lock strips 6 further in position within bases 3 and also to prevent wobbling of the strips within the channels, each base has preferably an R-shaped cross-section, as it is clearly shown in FIGS. 3a, 4a and 5a. These figures also show how the strips are guided by the inwardly protruding portion 12a of the bases as the strips are step-wise moved from the position of FIG. 3 into the position of FIG. 5. The flat side 12 of each base is inwardly disposed so that the two flat sides of the frame halves abut each other when the purse is closed.

As a result of the afore-described mounting of strips 6 with cover material and lining attached thereto in the frame halves, manufacture and assembly of French purses, ladies handbags, wallets, etc., is markedly simplified. As it is evident, insertion of the strips into the base portions 3 of the frame halves merely by forcing the ends of the strips to rest upon shoulders or set-offs provided for the purpose within the channels of the bases constitutes a very significant advantage in the art of attaching the cover and the lining of French purses, etc. Moreover, the inventive mode of attaching the strips with the cover material attached thereto results in a neat and smooth appearance of the purse, etc., as the components by means-of which the cover material and the lining are attached to the frame halves are completely concealed.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to a certain now preferred example and embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art, after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is intended, therefore, ,to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An accessory for personal use such as a French purse, ladies handbag or Wallet comprising in combination:

a rigid frame composed of two halves disposed sideby-side and each including a generally U-shaped member, the base of each of said members being channeled with the open side of the channel facing downwardly and the facing sides of the two legs of each member including a shoulder, each of said legs having an end portion extending into the channel of the base of the respective U-shaped member and set-ofi therein to define said shoulders, the free ends of the legs of the two members being hinged to each other; and

an elongate springy member for each frame half,

each of said springy members having a nose portion at each end, the maximal length of said springy members being slightly in excess of the distance between said shoulders, and said springy members being force-titted between the two legs with the nose portions of said springy members resting upon said shoulders.

2. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein the distances between the tips of the nose portions of the elongate members are in excess of the distances between the non set-off leg portions of the U-shaped' members.

3. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein the channeled base of the U-shaped member of each of said frame halves has a substantially R-shaped crosssection, the flat sides of the bases facing each other, the inwardly protruding portion of each cross-sectionally R-shaped base guiding and retaining said springy members within the channels.

4. The accessory according to claim 3 wherein each of said elongate springy members is a flat steel strip in pressure abutment with the inwardly protruding portion of the substantially R-shaped cross-section of the bases.

5. The accessory according to claim 1 and comprising a pliable cover material secured to said elongate springy members along the length thereof prior to force-fitting said springy members into the base of the U-shaped members of the frame halves. 

1. An accessory for personal use such as a French purse, ladies handbag or wallet comprising in combination: a rigid frame composed of two halves disposed side-by-side and each including a generally U-shaped member, the base of each of said members being channeled with the open side of the channel facing downwardly and the facing sides of the two legs of each member including a shoulder, each of said legs having an end portion extending into the channel of the base of the respective U-shaped member and set-off therein to define said shoulders, the free ends of the legs of the two members being hinged to each other; and an elongate springy member for each frame half, each of said springy members having a nose portion at each end, the maximal length of said springy members being slightly in excess of the distance between said shoulders, and said springy members being force-fitted between the two legs with the nose portions of said springy members resting upon said shoulders.
 2. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein the distances between the tips of the nose portions of the elongate members are in excess of the distances between the non set-off leg portions of the U-shaped members.
 3. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein the channeled base of the U-shaped member of each of said frame halves has a substantially R-shaped cross-section, the flat sides of the bases facing each other, the inwardly protruding portion of each cross-sectionally R-shaped base guiding and retaining said springy members within the channels.
 4. The accessory according to claim 3 wherein each of said elongate springy members is a flat steel strip in pressure abutment with the inwardly protruding portion of the substantially R-shaped cross-section of the bases.
 5. The accessory according to claim 1 and comprising a pliable cover material secured to said elongate springy members along the length thereof prior to force-fitting said springy members into the base of the U-shaped members of the frame halves. 